EP3: User or camera issue?

Just took my new EP-3 out for a walk and all was going great until....

....the camera decided that at certain points it would not register my use of some buttons; which appeared locked out. So, for example, while in A-mode no manner of turning the wheel would affect aperture settings, Fn buttons (e.g., EV comp, etc.) and 4 way buttons didn't work either. The camera would continue to AF and even take photos, meter and ISO changes, etc., but all manual adjustment settings appeared to be disabled. I turned it off and on again and it worked for a short time and would relapse into nil controls.

The only thing I did notice is that when I lost manual controls I also lost the metering icon (the one which indicates if you are in spot, centre-weighted, ESP, etc.). Whenever the icon appeared again (middle to top left of the screen) then manual button functions seemed restored.

Might be a common problem that is remedied with a simple menu setting change, but it has me baffled.

I'm guessing you're using an evf?? Very common and well reported problem. Any contact with the touchscreen while the evf is on tends to kill many of the controls. Should eventually be fixed in firmware, but for now the only solution is to make sure nothing touches the screen or to totally disable the screen (via the menu - just using the screen icon to turn it off won't do it). A bit of a pain if you like using both a lot. Many people probably tend to prefer shooting with the touchscreen OR the evf, but not both, so an easier choice for them.

Seems being bestowed with that prominent Southern European profile is affecting my photographic abilities....it's my schnoz while I'm lining up the shot in the VF that's inadvertently interfering with the controls. Having disabled the touch-screen all is well again.